The roles of anthropomorphism, spirituality, and gratitude in pro-environmental attitudes

Abstract

ABSTRACT Emotions can be a powerful motivator of pro-environmental behavior, but less is known about how religious factors shape these emotional responses. Two studies investigated how spiritual views of nature—as an anthropomorphic being, that provides positive self-transcendent emotional experiences and spiritual resources—are associated with gratitude to the natural environment. Feeling gratitude was a robust unique predictor of pro-environmental attitudes, including a desire to preserve and protect nature, moral disapproval of environment degradation, and pro-environmental civic engagement. We documented the association between spiritual views of nature, gratitude, and pro-environmental attitudes in Singapore (n = 1375) and the United States (n = 745) and across diverse religious groups. Furthermore, the association between gratitude to nature and pro-environmentalism was not moderated by perceived overlap between God and the natural environment, indicating that spiritually-grounded feelings of gratitude to nature have direct associations with environmental attitudes that extend across religious and cultural boundaries.